Migraine Remedies

Now we'll discuss the alternative methods for dealing with migraine headaches. The purely natural methods for coping with the distress, discomfor and downright pain that migraine causes. Why are we going to look at natural remedies? There's a lot of reasons for using a natural alternative or at least combining a natural approach with modern medication. More doctors are advocating the use of natural treatments as complimentary to their prescribed medicines.

Some people have adverse reactions to prescribed or OTC medications and need a natural form of treatment. Others simply don't like the idea of using prescription medicine over a long period of time. The other side effect of many of the prescribed medicines is that they can help with the pain of the migraine headache itself but tend to have a "knockout" effect on the sufferer. Most migraine sufferers will be familiar with the "where did the day go?" effect of many of the stronger painkillers.

The other, and final, factor is cost. Prescription medication can be insanely crazy in some countries.

Natural Or Alternative Remedies For Migraines

There are natural remedies to the migraine plague.

Darkness If you suffer from migraine headaches and an attack begins then find the quietest, darkest spot in your home and lay down there. The area should also be relatively warm to allow you to relax more quickly. Your eyes should remain covered but open. This usually means using some sort of blindfold but a scarf, long handkerchief or other material works just fine. Keep your eyes open as much as possible because experience has shown that shutting your eyes to try and cope with the pain uses extra facial and jaw muscles that can just increase the pain instead of relaxing it.

If an attack has already begun then follow the same routine and take whatever prescribed medication you have.

Relaxed Breathing A migraine attack generally brings on a sort of anxiety attack in the sufferer. They know how much it's going to hurt so their heart rate increases. This increase in bloodflow makes the problem worse becase migraines are vascular in nature and the very last thing you want is an increase in blood pressure.

Once you've retreated to the quiet, dark area and covered your eyes from any possible stimuli then breathing is the next area to focus on. You *must* let your breathing relax. Panicked breathing will increase the pain you're already experiencing.

To allow your breathing to relax follow these steps:

1. Take a long slow deep breath and exhale equally slowly.

2. Again take a long, slow deep breath. As you're slowly inhaling focus on the sensation of the air filling your lungs. Feel the air filling your body. Once you've inhaled as much as is comfortable again exhale slowly. As you're exhaling focus on the sensation of the air leaving your lungs and escaping through your mouth. Breathe out completely.

3. Repeat the process of inhaling slowly, focusing on the sensation of the air filling your lungs and exhaling slowly 4 or 5 more times.

4. By the fourth reptition you should notice that your breathing is far more relaxed and calm. Your heart rate should now also have lowered back to a resting rate and you may even feel slighly sleepy. If so embrace that feeling and allow yourself to fall asleep.

Lavender Oil This is the final step in the process. Lavender oil is renowned for its medicinal properties and this is doubly so for migraine headaches. Lavender oil is cheap and completely safe to use. Only use pure lavender oil for treating migraines - lavender scented fragrances or scented oils are useless.

If you feel a migraine attack coming then grab your lavender oil. Place a single drop of pure, undiluted lavender oil on each temple or behind each ear. Also place 2 or 3 drops of undiluted lavender oil on the pillow you're going to rest on.

Combined with a quiet, dark room and the deep breathing technique the lavender oil provides that final "punch" in the natural treatments. The scent of the oil will relax you and simply inhaling lavender infused air helps to ease the pain of a migraine almost immediately.

What should ideally happen in the above scenario is that you'll also fall asleep during the migraine attack and the combination of darkened room, a relaxed body and lavender doing it's magic in the background should leave you feeling refreshed at the end of the migraine attack as opposed to totally drained.

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